{"id":557841,"date":"2021-06-09T08:36:59","date_gmt":"2021-06-09T12:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=557841"},"modified":"2021-06-09T08:37:01","modified_gmt":"2021-06-09T12:37:01","slug":"how-did-an-app-expose-alleged-drug-syndicates-contract-killers-and-weapons-dealers-leading-to-800-arrests-worldwide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-did-an-app-expose-alleged-drug-syndicates-contract-killers-and-weapons-dealers-leading-to-800-arrests-worldwide\/","title":{"rendered":"How Did An App Expose \u2018Alleged Drug Syndicates, Contract Killers And Weapons Dealers,\u2019 Leading To 800+ Arrests Worldwide?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">36<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-did-an-app-expose-alleged-drug-syndicates-contract-killers-and-weapons-dealers-leading-to-800-arrests-worldwide%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=557841&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1233339810-1200x800-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p><span>In an impressive global effort, law enforcement agencies across the world announced on Tuesday that they had arrested over 800 alleged criminals in a sting known as \u201cTrojan Shield\u201d in the United States and Europe and \u201cSpecial Operation Ironside\u201d in Australia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As reported by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2021\/06\/08\/fbi-app-arrests-australia-crime\/\"><span>The Washington Post<\/span><\/a><span>, the operation exposed \u201calleged drug syndicates, contract killers and weapons dealers,\u201d across 16 countries, leading to the seizure of \u201c8 tons of cocaine, 22 tons of cannabis and cannabis resin, 2 tons of synthetic drugs, 6 tons of synthetic drugs precursors, 250 firearms, 55 luxury vehicles and over $48 million in various worldwide currencies and cryptocurrencies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But how did they achieve this feat of law enforcement? The answer may surprise you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The international sting was made possible by an encrypted messaging app which was \u2014 to the dismay of those arrested \u2014 actually launched and run by the FBI.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Working alongside Australian and European authorities, the FBI set up a company called \u201cAN0M,\u201d which was then installed on phones which had been updated to remove any other methods of communication. These phones were then slowly distributed to criminals, with the devices growing in popularity among criminal organizations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>While the users believed their communication was protected by encryption infrastructure, their messages were actually visible to law enforcement agencies. As Europol explained in a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.europol.europa.eu\/newsroom\/news\/800-criminals-arrested-in-biggest-ever-law-enforcement-operation-against-encrypted-communication\"><span>press release<\/span><\/a><span>, \u201cThe FBI and the 16 other countries of the international coalition, supported by Europol and in coordination with the US Drug Enforcement Administration, then exploited the intelligence from the 27 million messages obtained and reviewed them over 18 months while ANOM\u2019s criminal users discussed their criminal activities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>What makes this case particularly notable is that the law enforcement agencies leveraged encrypted communication devices to their benefit, while such technology is usually used to engage in criminal activity and avoid government control or legal consequences.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cEncrypted criminal communications platforms have traditionally been a tool to evade law enforcement and facilitate transnational organized crime,\u201d said Calvin Shivers, assistant director of the FBI\u2019s Criminal Investigative Division. \u201cThe FBI and our international partners continue to push the envelope and develop innovative ways to overcome these challenges and bring criminals to justice.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The scale of the international effort also deserves praise. As the press release noted, <\/span><span>this operation \u201cis one of the largest and most sophisticated law enforcement operations to date in the fight against encrypted criminal activities,\u201d with \u201ca series of large-scale law enforcement actions\u201d being \u201cexecuted over the past days across 16 countries resulting in more than 700 house searches, more than 800 arrests and the seizure of over 8 tons of cocaine, 22 tons of cannabis and cannabis resin, 2 tons of synthetic drugs (amphetamine and methamphetamine), 6 tons of synthetic drugs precursors, 250 firearms, 55 luxury vehicles and over $48 million in various worldwide currencies and cryptocurrencies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ighaworth\"><i><span>@ighaworth<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i><span>member<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an impressive global effort, law enforcement agencies across the world announced on Tuesday that they had arrested over 800 alleged criminals in a sting known as \u201cTrojan Shield\u201d in &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2279720,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1233339810-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"How Did An App Expose \u2018Alleged Drug Syndicates, Contract Killers And Weapons Dealers,\u2019 Leading To 800+ Arrests Worldwide?","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-557841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1233339810-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"How Did An App Expose \u2018Alleged Drug Syndicates, Contract Killers And Weapons Dealers,\u2019 Leading To 800+ Arrests Worldwide?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2279720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}